I'll Always Be There
by Lonely.Fighter
Summary: Shikamaru promised Asuma that he would take care of his niece OC , nephew and future child. Shikamaru is fulfilling that duty slowly. ShikaOC OCShika OCxShika ShikaxOC


Meya, she was one of a kind that girl. Always manipulating me in doing what she wanted me to do. My best friend, along with Chouji. I loved her, not in a romantic kind of way, but in a brotherly kind of way.

It's always been a drag looking after her after Asuma died, she always seemed to be getting into trouble. Her and Naruto were known as the two trouble hurt me, that I had to hurt her in telling her that Asuma died.

I still remember her brown eyes and hair soaked from standing in the rain. When she saw me, she nearly attacked me. I smiled and it only made my situation worse.

_She asked for her uncle I just looked her smiling face, how could I break that heart?_

"_Where is he? Is he hurt?" She was bombarding me with a million question._

"_Meya..." I placed my hand on her shoulder._

_We looked at each other and her smile slowly turned upside._

"_He's not coming back, is he?" She whispered._

_I sighed, I wanted to say 'Yes, he's coming back, don't worry, everything will be okay' and smile, but I couldn't. I couldn't even hold my own tears back, but I still managed._

"_I'm sorry Meya." I whispered back._

_I couldn't tell if she was crying or not because of the rain, but she turned away from me and I felt her shaking._

"_Shikamaru..." She whispered._

"_Yeah?"_

"_...why does this always happen to me?" She turned around, I saw her bloodshot eyes and tears clearly running down her face. I couldn't help but cry too, good thing she didn't notice though, with her face buried in my chest and the rain on my face._

"_At least..." He whispered, choking back a scream, "he died a good shinobi."_

It hurt me even more when I hurt her again. She needed me at the funeral and I failed. Asuma whispered quite a few things in my ear and one of them was to take care of Meya and Konohamaru.

_I remember after the funeral she came running towards my house._

"_Shikamaru, how could you?! Not attend your own sensei's funeral?! _

"_I was busy with some stuff."_

_She sighed, I noticed her eyes were bloodshot and her hair was messed up. Meya started running to me and embraced me._

"_Just promise me one thing, Shikamaru."_

_I placed my hand on her back and pulled her in closer._

"_I need you to be there, when no one else is."_

"_I promise." I did promise, with my life, I would never let her be alone._

_She fell asleep in a matter of minutes, my mom came outside offering me dinner, but I couldn't eat, not in a time like this. I passed the time thinking of how to et revenge on Asuma while playing with his lighter._

"_Shikamaru, come inside, hang out with me for a while." _

_I sighed and picked Meya up lightly, careful not to wake her up. I put her in the corner of the room and wrapped a blanket around her._

_I noticed my dad moved the shouji board into the middle of the room, I really didn't want to play shouji at this time._

_I sat down, and he started by making the first move first. I wasn't in the mood for trying so I just did whatever occurred to me first._

"_You're being very careless today, Shikamaru."_

_I didn't feel like talking to him either._

"_You're never going to beat me at this rate." He kept on talking. I didn't want to hear his bull today._

"_Shut Up." I whispered back._

_He kept on playing and started talking again. "He was a great man, that Asuma, awful shouji player though. I can't help but feeling bad for Meya, being alone now. She's the exact image of her mother now, she sure was pretty."_

"_I feel bad too." I whispered._

"_Are you alright with that?" He asked._

"_Don't complain about my game-strategy." I whispered._

"_Not that, what're you going to do now that Asuma's dead?"_

_How could he even ask me that, I looked at Meya still sound asleep. I looked back at my father and just stared at him._

"_At least you're not stupid enough to not get yourself killed, as your father I'm grateful for that, I would hate going to my own son's funeral." He stopped to make another move. "You're doing well, I'm proud of you."_

_I don't want to hear his grief. I looked down and made another move without looking._

"_You're smart and talented, you're someone we can all depend on, that's why Asuma left you in-charge of his niece and nephew and future son. But, Asuma's dead..."_

_That's it, I flung my arm and threw that shouji board aside out of anger, all the pieces scattering around. It woke Meya up but she just sat there._

"_What're you trying to say?" I said, raising my voice._

"_I'm just speaking my mind." He responded._

"_Stop messing with me. Your nonsense is making me sick." I said getting up and yelling at him. "I'm nothing but a coward, that runs away!"_

"_No, you're not." He shook his head._

"_That what is it?!" I yelled again._

"_Shika-kun..." I heard Meya whisper._

_My dad got up and stared at me, I felt like hitting him for what he said._

"_Let it all out." He said._

_I was taken aback, Meya started crying silently and I had to hold in my tears. A ninja could never show his emotions. It would also be the first time I cry infront of Meya._

"_Let out all the sadness, fear and angry builing up inside of you. Let it all out." He said._

_I couldn't hold it in anymore, I was shaking slightly, I had cried since he died but not to let everything out. I tried talking but I couldn't, I couldn't let Meya see me like this, I opened my eyes and I saw her tears running down her face._

"_That's the first step." My father said, and left. I couldn't hold it in anymore, I let out all my tears and yelled. Meya quickly got up and embraced me. I held her tight and let out another scream. I collapsed and pulled Meya down with me._

"_It's okay to cry Shika, you don't have to act tough in front of me." She whispered and kissed my head. I let everything out._

That was the first time she was truly there for me. I looked at my surroundings and realized that I had arrived. I sighed and looked straight ahead with a big smile. This is going to be troublesome, but worth the wait.

"Nara-san! You're here! The bride's been waiting for you." One of the men said.

"Troublesome woman, can't even wait 10 minutes."

I stepped outside and walked to the altar and waited for the music. The doors suddenly opened and I saw my beauty walking down the aisle. If anyone hasn't realized it, I lied about what I said about not loving her romantically, I did. I really always did but never realized it. She approached me and I held her hand delicately and removed her veil and kissed her cheek.

"Now I'll always be there for you." I whispered. "I love you."

I smiled.

I kept my promise Asuma-sensei, now, I will always look after her.


End file.
